


Hilltop

by rooftop_gardens



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Idols, Light-Hearted, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-17 22:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11278173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rooftop_gardens/pseuds/rooftop_gardens
Summary: In a little café, in a quiet neighborhood, up on a hill, is where we found each other.





	1. this is how we met

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fic so I hope you guys enjoy! I also really really appreciate comments, and I'll try to answer any questions there are if you guys have any :-) 
> 
> Oh, and also, this story is crossposted onto aff so you can read it there if you prefer that. 
> 
> Warnings: a bit of profanity, but really nothing else "M" worthy in this chapter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halla didn't know if she would ever meet anyone any more childish than Seungcheol.

"You can put that box down right over there”

"Over here?”

"Yup, thanks."

Halla dropped the box in the corner of the room with a terse grunt and began to stretch.  She faced towards the window wall and extended her arms over her head, exhaling deeply and letting the sunlight wash over her.

_ Maybe this isn’t such a bad place to work, after all _ she thought to herself.

Sure, she was a bit doubtful about the place since it seemed far from being a functioning café,  especially since that meant she had to do a lot of the heavy lifting and unpacking. Not to mention the fact that her boss seemed excessively carefree, leaving her directionless and confused half the time.

But the view.  The view definitely sealed the deal.  Out those huge paneled windows was a spectacular scene of Seoul from above, like something straight out of a postcard.  Due to the warm spring climate, the sunlight hit the skyscrapers and the Han River just right, so that they glistened in the day.  The hills and parks flourished with green and purple verdure, and the cherry blossom trees clumped together to create a beautiful pink array.  This breathtaking sight made the 400 meter walk up the steep and unkept road to work everyday worth it.

Halla also had to admit that although undone, the café had some character.  It was minimalistic and cute, with clean, white walls and tables made of light birch. The chairs were also made of birch, matching the tables, with fluffy cushions varying in pastel colors on top of them.  In the center of the café were four counters creating a square, with the kitchen area in the center of it. Bar stools surrounded the counters, and colorful markers lay on top of the counters for customers to write cute messages on the surface.  A few photographs of famous landmarks and nature’s wonders decorated the walls with pastel frames around them. 

_ Yup, not a bad place at all.  I think I’ll like it here. _ Halla thought as she picked up a box labeled “utensils” and began walking towards the kitchen.  She heard the door open, followed by the sound of thumping feet quickly coming towards her and--

**_Crash_ **

All of a sudden, Halla felt the box hit her face with great force and her hands instinctivley let go of it.  It felt to the floor with a loud thud.  Forks, spoons, and chopsticks fell out from the box, scattering everywhere with cacophony clattering.   

_ Spoke too soon. _

Halla immediately began trying to gather all the utensils, with her hands and knees on the floor, gritting her teeth at the thought of having to wash all of them.  A voice was jabbering on, which she was trying to ignore, because quite frankly, she was pissed.   

"I’m so so sorry, I was in a rush to find my uncle because I’m late and he kinda scares me a little when he’s mad, so I was running and didn’t see where I was going, and I-”      

Halla’s eyes looked up to meet dark doe eyes, gleaming apologetically.  Those eyes widened in an instant, and Halla heard a small “woah” escape from the guy’s mouth.  She began to study the face those big doe eyes belonged to.  He had soft features to match his soft eyes, but his dark hair, sharp jawline, and deep voice made him appear more masculine.  Halla also noted that he didn’t have a bad body, with broad shoulders and toned muscles that peeked out of his t-shirt.  Too bad that body was clumsy as fuck.    

Dumping all the utensils into the box and getting up, Halla placed the box onto the counter.  She was about to tell the boy to watch where he was going next time, when her boss entered the room.  

"Did something happen?  Sounded like something dropped.”

"Sorry Mr. Choi,” Halla bowed slightly, “I was just-”

"Oh!  Hey Seungcheol, nice of you to finally show up,” Mr. Choi said, stopping in front of the two.  “It was this kid’s fault, huh,” Mr. Choi pointed at the doe-eyed boy, apparently named Seungcheol.

"Hey! Why are you always assuming it’s my fault?” Seungcheol asked with an exaggerated look of offence plastered on his face.  

"Was it your fault?”  

"Well… yes.”

Mr. Choi signed and nodded his head, putting his arm around Seungcheol.  

"See, I only hire the best of the best employees to work at my place, using a rigorous interviewing process.  Halla would never cause an accident on the first day of work,” he boasted.

_ Interesting, _ Halla thought,  _ because the only “interview” I had to go through was being asked if I wanted to work here and if I was available to work on weekdays.    _

Seungcheol stepped closer to Halla and leaned against the counter, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Is part of the criteria for hiring your workers that they have to be stunningly beautiful?” he grinned slyly.  

Halla rolled her eyes.  She could feel the grease, as if his skin was oozing butter.   

"Hey!  No hitting on my employees.  You’re going to make them so uncomfortable that they won’t come to work,” Mr. Choi smacked Seungcheol on the forehead.  Halla gave Mr. Choi a smile of gratitude.

"What, was the pickup line not your type?” Seungcheol flashed another one of his greasy grins at Halla.  

"No, it’s not the pickup line that’s not my type.  It’s you,” Halla said while trying to imitate Seungcheol’s cocky smirk.  Mr. Choi snorted and Seungcheol raised an ambiguous eyebrow.  

Mr. Choi pointed at Halla, “I like you already.  I’m promoting you to head employee.”

_ Is that even a thing?  _  Halla wondered.  

"That’s not even a thing,” Seungcheol muttered, and turned to face Mr. Choi, “Anyways, I know I’m late, but I’m here to help now.  What do you want me to do?”

"Before I put you to work, I want to properly introduce you two.  Halla, this is my  _ beloved _ nephew Seungcheol,” Mr. Choi said as he roughly messed with Seungcheol’s hair on the emphasis of  _ beloved _ .   “He’s here to help set up this place.  And Seungcheol, this is Halla, my first and only employee, so don’t harass her.  I’m going to be working on getting the sink in the bathroom to work, so if you need anything, you can find me there.”   

Mr. Choi set off towards the bathroom, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.  He turned around, and said, “Oh, and Halla, Cheol is going to be helping me out occasionally here and there around the café, so it’s probably best to get acquainted with him now, as painfully annoying as that might be.”  He chuckled to himself and left the room.   

_ Wonderful. _

 

→

 

A good half hour of awkward silence passed, with the only noise coming from boxes being moved around and supplies being put in their place.  Seungcheol, who detested the tense air, decided to try and break the silence.

"So, how did you find this gig?”      

"Found an ad online.”

Seungcheol noted that the short reply was an indication that Halla didn’t want to go further into conversation, but decided to probe out of curiosity anyways.

"Are you planning to work here full time?”

"Nah, I’m a college student so this is just a part time thing.  Just trying to get enough money to pay for books.”

"Oh, cool.  What year?”

"Sophomore.”

There were so many more questions Seungcheol wanted to ask: What major, what school, how student life was.  To say the least, he was intrigued by Halla and wanted to break past that line of defense he sensed around her.  He ultimately decided against it; it would be overkill to bother her that much on the first day.  He continued to set up the espresso machine, with no clue as to how an espresso machine works.

"Do you need help with that?” Halla inquired, noticing how Seungcheol was trying to twist a lever.  Although it was entertaining to see him attempt to put the contraption together, she was afraid it would break by the way he was manhandling it.    

"Even if you tried, I don’t see how you could get it to work.  This thing is like the world's hardest puzzle,” Seungcheol sighed with a look of defeat.  Halla found the box the machine was originally packaged in, and looked inside.

"There are instructions here,” she said, pulling out a large sheet from the box.  She dangled the papers in front of his face with a half-concerned, half-amused countenance.  

"Instructions are for chumps,” Seungcheol grumbled, still taking the instructions from Halla’s hands.  Halla giggled at his expression, and Seungcheol smiled at the fact that he was able to make her laugh, even if it was unintentional.

Seungcheol noticed that it was the first time he saw her smile-- like an actual teeth-bearing, eye-crinkling smile.  He absolutely adored it.  Unlike her usual intimidating expression, her features softened and her eyes scrunched into little arcs.  All the stress that was apparent on her face seemed to melt away the moment the corners of her mouth lifted, and Seungcheol was proud to be the cause of that.  

"So, your uncle owns this place?” Halla asked.

"Yup!  I’m the boss’s favorite nephew, so ya better be nice to me,” Seungcheol beamed in a mockingly cute tone.  Halla scoffed.  She hated aegyo.  

"I think I’d rather just get fired.”  

"Whatever.  You don’t have to keep pretending you don’t find me cute.”

"Anywaysss,” Halla said, trying to divert the topic away from Seungcheol, a subject she was sure he loved, “Is this your uncle’s first time opening a café?”  

'Yeah, why?”

"Idunno… he just seems very relaxed for his first time opening a business.”

Seungcheol laughed and turned towards Halla, propping his elbow against the counter and leaning.  

"I didn’t say anything about this being his first time opening a business.  I said this is his first time opening a café.”

"Your point is?”

"My uncle is founder of Choi Tech.”

_ WHAT. _ **** Halla’s head starting spinning.   _ My boss is the founder of one of the world’s largest technology companies?  _  Yes, she knew that her boss’s name was Mr. Choi and that Choi Tech was a big deal, but it never came across her mind that the two could be related.  After all, Choi was a common last name, and Mr. Choi hardly seemed CEO material.  Today he was wearing a tank top with pineapple print paired with bright orange cargo shorts.  He also dabbed the first time they met. 

"I guess that’s why he seems so chill to you,” Seungcheol chuckled.  “He just opened this place for fun, kind of like a hobby, so it’s not like he cares too much about how this place does financially.  You see all the pictures around this place?  They were all taken by him; he’s visited all of the sights in the photos.”     

So... your uncle is pretty much loaded.”

"I guess you could say it like that, yeah.”

"Then why does he need you to help out?  Can’t he just hire somebody to do all of this?”  

"I’m helping out because I want to.  I think it’s cool that he’s opening this place and I wanted to check it out and spend some time with the old man.”  

_ That’s… almost sweet. _

"Plus, what kind of good samaritan would I be if I stayed at home all day, without giving other people the blessing of seeing my face?”

_ Almost. _

"Hey guys!” Mr. Choi yelled, charging into the room, “I was about to start painting the main sign for the café, when I realized I haven’t even named the place!  How funny is that?”

Seungcheol and Halla exchanged of concern.  The place was opening tomorrow, and he didn’t even know what it was called?  Halla couldn’t help but wonder if Seungcheol was pulling her leg about the whole CEO thing.    

"Do you have anybody or anything significant in your life that you want to name the café after?  Give the name some meaning?” Halla suggested.

"Ooh, what if I name the place after my bulldog, Paul?  Paul's Place?  House of Paul?”  

"Or maybe not,” Halla muttered.  

"Oh!  I got it, what about… Hilltop? Because we’re on a hill, ya know?”

_ What a stupid name, _ Halla thought.  She couldn’t help but cringe at the cheesiness of naming something after its location.  

"Hilltop café!  Final name.  Love it.  Truly genius,” Mr. Choi proclaimed proudly.  

After repeating it in her head a few times, Halla did have to admit it had a nice ring to it.  

 

→

 

It was almost the end of Halla’s shift and the sun was just about to set.  Mr. Choi, for the majority of the day, was working on the exterior of the café, making repairs to the rooftop and painting the sign, leaving Halla and Seungcheol alone to set up the kitchen appliances and decorate the interior.   

From the short conversations they’ve had, Halla was able to learn a few things about Seungcheol, such as the fact that he was dorming with a few of his friends.  That, and that he’s a five year old stuck in a young man’s body, with a face he believes to be the equivalent of Kim Woo Bin.  

The one thing that Halla was the most intrigued by was that she wasn’t able to squeeze any information about his social life out of him. She had asked him about his education and what he was up to, but he managed to dodge the questions so well that she was left with nothing.  She didn’t even know if he was a student or if he was already in the workforce, but she assumed he was a college student by the fact that he was older than her.  Probably a senior.    

With an hour of Halla’s shift left, boredom began to creep into her mind.  She was sure that Mr. Choi would be okay with her clocking out early, since they had pretty much finished setting up everything, but she craved to see the city at night from the café’s view and wanted an excuse to stay a little longer.  She suddenly remembered what Mr. Choi said to her when he first hired her, and got busy.  

"What are you doing?” Seungcheol asked, placing down the last table centerpiece.  He walked towards Halla and sat down on one of the bar stools across from where she was making drinks.  He folded his arms on the counter and rested his chin in the crook of his elbow, looking up at Halla with those puppy eyes of his.

"Experimenting.  Mr. Choi said that if I could make some cool drinks, he would add them to the menu,” Halla said, pouring various mixtures into the shaker.  She was excited by all the tools and flavor possibilities that surrounded her, feeling like a true bartender— or better yet, a witch brewing a special potion.  

"Ooh, are you making something alcoholic?”

"I don’t drink.  Here, try this,” Halla said, placing her first concoction on the counter.  Seungcheol obediently took a sip, grimaced, and spit whatever he took back in the cup.

"Are you trying to poison me?  What is this??” Seungcheol wailed in disgust.

"I honestly lost count after the first four flavors I added in,” Halla laughed.  Admittingly, she got carried away with all the bartender stuff.        

_ Okay, let’s try to make another one for real this time _ , she thought.  Halla took a glance outside, and began to create something, feeling inspired.  Carefully making sure to consider how the drink would actually taste this time, she produced something she was actually quite proud of and put it on the counter.           

"Drink,” Halla demanded.  Seungcheol picked up the drink, delicately spinning the glass around with an impressed expression.  The clear glass showed three distinct layers of red, orange, and clear.  Seungcheol turned slightly and held the glass up to the window to compare it with the view.  The sun was setting and the sky was painted with vibrant, warm colors that mirrored the drink.   

"I see what you did there,” Seungcheol smiled.  “What is it?

"It’s cherry syrup at the bottom with freshly squeezed orange juice on top of that.  Oh, and sparkling water to offset the sweetness.”

"It looks so cool, how did you do this?”

"I watched a video about layering drinks online, it’s pretty interesting!  To be honest, I’ve always wanted to try making drinks like this, which is partly why I got this job,” Halla answered enthusiastically.    

Seungcheol couldn’t help but keep grinning at Halla’s excitement.  It was absolutely, undeniably cute how giddy she was about something as simple as mixing juices.

"Hurry up and try it!” Halla urged.  “Oh wait, make sure to mix the drink first.”

Seungcheol mixed the drink as she said, and lifted it to the brim of his lip.  He looked up hesitantly.  

"Oh, come on!  I promise I actually tried on this one, okay?”  

He shut his eyes tightly, and took one big gulp.  Immediately, his eyes shot open, and his entire body froze.  

"What, do you not like it?”

"This.  Is the best thing.  I’ve tasted.  In my fucking life,” Seungcheol beamed.  He downed the whole glass, and slammed it down on the counter, releasing a refreshed “ah”.  

"Gimme another one.”

"Wait, seriously?”  

"Yeah, I could probably drink a whole gallon of this stuff.”

"No, I mean… you liked it?”  

"I thought that was obvious,” Seungcheol chuckled at the disbelief in Halla’s face.  Her shocked expression quickly turned into one of pure happiness.  She began to jump around, overjoyed.  

"I made a good drink!” she exclaimed, still hopping around the kitchen.  

All of a sudden, Halla seemed to remember where she was, and she stopped in her tracks.  In an attempt to collect herself, she tucked her slightly tousled hair behind her ears and cleared her throat.  

"I’ll uh, I’ll make you another one maybe another day.  They take kinda long to make and I should clock out pretty soon.”

"If I come back tomorrow to work and help out at the opening, will you make one for me?”  

"You’re seriously going to come here early in the morning and offer free labor just for a drink?”

"Yeah,” Seungcheol grinned.  “For the drink.”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like it when characters break the fourth wall. Hope you caught it ;) 
> 
> I plan to make the rest of the story pretty light-hearted like this, so I hope you guys like it!! Next chapter will have a lot more character introductions (maybe some seventeen members, ohohoho).


	2. it's a tradition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Hilltop's first official day open, and it's a busy day.

“Hilltop café is officially open!”

Mr. Choi turned the “open” sign to face out the window, and everyone applauded.

"I hope we get a lot of customers today!” Suhyun exclaimed with bright eyes.

Halla met Suhyun only earlier that morning; she was another employee who would be working alongside her at Hilltop. The young chipmunk-cheeked girl was Mr. Choi’s niece and Seungcheol’s cousin, and was adorably positive and cheerful. Halla envied Suhyun’s alacrity at her age, as someone who had not yet experienced the depths of hell that was college.

As promised, Seungcheol showed up early in the morning as well. Surprisingly, he was diligent in preparing for the opening and worked hard. Halla had to admit that Seungcheol’s contribution was the only reason they were able to open on time, considering the fact that the only thing Mr. Choi did all morning was debate whether or not he should call the matcha smoothie the “matchoothie”.

"So… now what?” Seungcheol pondered, asking the question everyone had in mind. After the applause died down, everyone stood silently, as if they were expecting confetti canons to burst and for a stream of people to walk through the door miraculously.

"I guess we wait for customers?” Mr. Choi responded, not sounding too sure himself on how to answer Seungcheol’s question. “Did all you guys tell your friends to come? Seungcheol, did you invite the boys?”

"Yeah, but they’re coming later. I’m letting them sleep in today since yesterday was a busy day.”

 _Letting them sleep in? Is he a dorm supervisor?_ Halla wondered. She didn’t take him to be the type to enforce school rules, let alone follow them.

"All my friends are in class,” Suhyun stated. Seungcheol’s head snapped towards her direction at that statement, and he briskly walked towards her.

"You have class today? Why are you here?” he asked sternly.

"Seungcheol, relax. Today is a field day, so I snuck out.”

"If you don’t go, it doesn’t affect your grade, right?”

"I wouldn’t be here if it did.”

"That’s right,” Seungcheol declared proudly.

  
The dynamic between Seungcheol and Suhyun was something that Halla would definitely have to get used to. Although he acted like a child most of the time, Seungcheol seemed to take on the role of the protective older brother to Suhyun. The same guy that tried to juice a potato out of curiosity the previous day was now scolding his cousin for missing school. That was something to process.

"Suhyun, do you want to help me prep some of the food items?” Halla asked, itching to do something productive. She was starting to get tired of waiting for a customer to come in.

"Sure! Can we try to organize the toppings for the toast?”

"Sounds good.”

The two began rummaging through the ingredients in the kitchen and taking out ingredients to organize in containers.

"Mr. Choi, where is the condensed milk?” Halla inquired while scouring the cabinets once again to see if she had missed it.

"Should be in the pantry!”

Halla walked down a narrow hall, and found the pantry. The moment she opened the door, she erupted in bouts of coughing.

 _How is this place so dusty already?_    This café truly seemed to defy the impossible.

 _Condensed milk, condensed milk…_. Halla’s eyes scanned the shelves. _Oh! There it is_ , Halla spotted her target on the highest shelf of the pantry. She tiptoed, reaching for the can.

 _Just a little more_ , she thought, stretching her arm as far as possible and straining her calves in an attempt to get just a little bit closer to the can.

Suddenly, she felt warmth on her back. and the object she was so desperately fixated on reaching was in the hand of someone else.

Halla looked up slightly, surprised to see Seungcheol’s face directly above hers. Startled, she gasped and turned her body, only to have her face almost buried in his sweater. Her eyes averted side to side, looking for means to escape, but she was trapped by the close proximity of their bodies.

_Why are his shoulders so damn broad?! I can’t get out._

Seungcheol retracted his arm and held the can of condensed milk in front of Halla’s face.

"Is this what you wanted, shortie?” he smiled mischievously.

Halla searched her mind for any sort of words she could use to cohesively put together any form of response, but nothing was coming out. Instead, she tried to avoid eye contact, feeling a bit flustered.

"Honestly, I just made your heart flutter, didn’t I?”

That greasy line sent Halla straight back to reality. In one swift motion, she stepped on Seungcheol’s foot with a considerable amount of force and grabbed the can. Seungcheol let out a sharp howl of pain, and Halla smirked.

"Thanks for the help!” she chirped in a mockingly sweet tone, and exited the pantry.

 

→

 

Twenty long minutes passed, and Halla was beginning to have doubts that they would get any customers that day. The café, although in a beautiful location, was somewhat in the middle of nowhere. It was on a small, obscure hill near the outskirts of the city-- not the kind of place a lot people walked around that would happen to stumble across the café. It also seemed like everyone was so focused on physically getting the café up and running that they forgot to publicize the grand opening.

"Hey Seungcheol,” Mr. Choi called out, “Maybe you could go outside and hold up this sign I just made to try to ring some customers in.”

Mr. Choi held up a plain posterboard with “Come to Hilltop Café! Grand Opening With Grand Deals!” written in almost illegible red marker.

"Oh, and do that thing that you taught me!” Mr. Choi said, as he jerked his head forward into his elbow.

"Dabbing?” Seungcheol laughed.

 _So that’s where he learned that._ Halla was wondering where her boss acquired such an annoying habit.

Just then, Halla heard the jingle of a bell, and everyone’s eyes darted towards the door. A customer!

Two young girls entered the café, and sat down near the door, taking in their surroundings.

Halla squinted at them; something about their faces seemed familiar. She then realized that they were freshmen in her major. It took a while for her to recognize them, since they were usually surrounded by a larger group. Halla and her friends called them the “giggle girls,” because they always seemed to be loudly giggling about something.

"I got this,” Seungcheol said confidently, and approached them with a pen and notepad in hand.

"Hi, welcome to Hilltop café! We just opened today, so with every order we’ll be giving a complimentary slice of cake!” Seungcheol grinned widely. “Are you ready to order?”

The two girls exchanged glances, and started giggling simultaneously.

"Well what’s good here? Besides the outstanding service?” one of the girls with a stylish short bob asked, leaning forward towards Seungcheol and batting her lashes.

"Are you more of a coffee or a tea person?”

"We like sweet things,” the other girl answered, biting her lower lip.

 _Oh my god_ , Halla thought, _they’re flirting_. She leaned on the counter, crossing her arms and enjoying the scene that was ensuing before her. The girls seemed to giggle at every word Seungcheol said, and flipped their hair back and forth every few seconds. Halla was almost afraid they would break their necks. It was amusing to watch, since Halla had only seen such aggressive flirting in movies.

After taking their orders, Seungcheol made his way towards Halla and handed her a ticket, grinning.

"First customers, so don’t fuck up.”

While making the giggly girls’ drinks, Halla could hear the two chattering in high-pitched whispers between their constant glances towards Seungcheol, who was cleaning the windows across the room.

"Oh my god, he’s _so_ cute.”

"I know, right! He looks like an idol.”

"We have to tell the rest of the squad to come here and check it out.”

"Should we snapchat him?”

"Yeah, let’s do it!”

"Um, excuse me?”

Halla looked up, realizing that the short-haired girl was talking to her, with her phone held right in front of her face.

"Can you maybe, uh, move a little to the side please? We just want a better view… of the city, I mean.”

Halla raised an eyebrow, but complied. Who was she to get in the way of young love?

 

→

 

After about an hour, the girls got up and made their way towards the door.

"Thank you for coming! Please come again, our grand opening deal will be going on for the whole week!” Seungcheol exclaimed.

One of the girls looked back and giggled.

"Oh, we’ll be back.”

Halla chuckled under her breath. It was entertaining, to say the least, to watch people act the way those girls did. Halla was all for people going out and getting what they wanted, but she was just not used to seeing such a direct and physically superfluous approach.

Seungcheol started walking towards her, and Halla decided to test how much the recent encounter with the new customers inflated his ego.

"Wow, Seungcheol. First customers of the day, and you’re already a hit,” she winked.

"What are you talking about? And what’s wrong with your eye?”

 _Was he just pretending to be clueless or was he actually this clueless?_ Halla decided to continue on with her teasing.

"Did you get their numbers?”

"What? Why would I give customers my number?”

_Seriously?_

"They were into you, Cheol.”

Seungcheol blinked. He was taken aback, not at what Halla said, but the fact that she just called him “Cheol.” It wasn’t exactly a nickname, but it was close, and he liked the way it sounded coming out of her mouth.

"They were?” Seungcheol asked, realizing he had to say something instead of just standing there in wonderment. Suhyun and Mr. Choi nodded in unison.

"Oh.”

Silence.

"You really didn’t know they were flirting?”

"No. I didn’t notice.”

Shocked was an understatement to describe how Halla felt. She was sure that anyone could’ve picked up the signs the girls were giving Seungcheol, so imagine the surprise she received when Seungcheol, the guy who praised his own face in a day more than Halla could count with her fingers, was completely oblivious to the underlying meaning of all those hairflips and eyelash bats.

Seungcheol truly was someone who Halla could not figure out.

 

→

 

Hilltop café eventually began to fill up, and the place seemed to glow with a more lively atmosphere. Halla noticed that a good portion of their customers were freshmen from her college, probably as a result of the giggly girls’ sending the rest of their “squad” their way.

Halla was happy to be busy and productive with all the new customers. She had always been the type of person to enjoy working hard, and felt that it was extremely gratifying to earn her own money as a result of that effort. She began to imagine all the things she’s been saving up to buy and the meals she could treat her friends and family to with her incoming paychecks.

"Hello! Welcome to Hilltop café!” Halla greeted a group of five boys who just entered. They all flashed her a polite smile and sat down at the largest table in the room.

Halla watched them scan the menus and converse. She noticed that they were all quite attractive guys who seemed to be around her age. For some reason, Halla could not take her eyes off of them, she was fascinated with the bright halo of energy that seemed to surround them.

"Excuse me?” one of the guys waved his hand towards Halla. He had kind eyes and short, brown hair.

"Yes? Are you ready to order?” Halla asked as she walked towards their table.

"Actually, uh… we were wondering if Seungcheol was here? He’s working here today, right?”

"Shh,” the tallest of the friends elbowed the speaker in the rib, continuing to speak in a loud whisper, “we should let her serve us, she’s pretty.”

"But if she serves us then we can’t make Seungcheol wait on us. Imagine all the back and forth running we could make him do!” one of them chimed in. This one was blonde, and had narrow, up-pointing eyes.

"You guys are just asking for more laps at training later, you know that?” one of the boys who seemed to be younger compared to the rest added.

Halla just stood there, silently watching the boys bicker, unsure if she should go find Seungcheol or if she wait until they were done with their discussion to take their orders.

"Hey, guys!” Seungcheol said, suddenly appearing besides Halla and leaning on her with his elbow on her shoulder.

_Just in time._

The group of guys greeted him enthusiastically in unison, and Seungcheol beamed back at them.

"Halla, these are some of my roommates!”

 _Some?_ Halla thought, appalled. _There are more?_

Seungcheol introduced each of his roommates one by one. The one with kind eyes was named Jisoo, the tall one was Mingyu, and the blonde was Soonyoung.

"That’s Chan,” Seungcheol pointed at the younger looking boy, then moved his finger towards the one with his long hair in a ponytail. “And that’s Jeonghan.”

A moment of silence passed, and Mingyu cleared his throat.

"Well, are you going to introduce us to her?” he asked impatiently.

"Oh, right,” Seungcheol let out an embarrassed laugh. “This is Halla, she works here.”

The boys clapped a little too exuberantly, smiling widely at Halla.

"Halla, when are you going to be on your break?” Jeonghan asked after the applause faded.

"I was going to go on my break after serving you guys, why?”

"You can go on your break now. Seungcheol will serve us” Jeonghan smirked almost devilishly, pulling up a chair beside him and motioning for Halla to sit with them, to which she aceded. “Actually, he’ll serve _all_ of us.”

"Oh come on guys! Do you have to do this on the first day?” Seungcheol wailed incessantly.

"What’s the most difficult drink to make on the menu?” Jeonghan asked Halla quietly, leaning towards her to hear her answer.

"Oh, definitely the frappucinos.”

"Great! We’ll take six caramel frappucinos!”

Seungcheol groaned loudly, then trudged his way towards the drink-making station, glaring at the boys from across the counter.

"That’s what he gets for making us beg him for the last bit of toothpaste,” Soonyoung grumbled while all the other boys began to laugh.

 

→

 

"So, you’re from California?”

"Yeah, I moved to Korea in high school for educational purposes,” Halla answered somberly. The mention of her hometown always made her homesick.

"I’m from California, too!” Jisoo said brightly. “Which part of California are you from?”

"Los Angeles.”

"Woah, we were raised in the same city but we’re only meeting now in Seoul? That’s so cool! Did you grow up taking day trips to Santa Monica with your family, too?”

"Yup! Every summer we would go to the pier because my little brother was addicted to playing the games.”

Although it made her even more homesick to talk about family, Halla felt a sense of bittersweetness meeting someone who was going through the same thing she was.

For the past twenty minutes, Halla had been talking to all the boys and enjoying ordering Seungcheol around (although Halla had to admit she felt just a teeny bit bad for making him remake their drinks so many times). She felt an indescribable sense of comfort being with Seungcheol’s roommates, probably due to the fact that they were so open and friendly. With just one conversation, Halla could sense that they were a very close and jubilant group of friends, and wouldn’t mind seeing them as regular customers at Hilltop.

"I should get back to work now,” Halla said reluctantly. She didn’t want to stop talking to the guys, but she felt guilty for letting Seungcheol and Suhyun do all the work when it was just starting to get really busy. She headed back towards the kitchen and began helping Seungcheol finish an order.

"Hey,” she whispered, “your friends are kinda hot.” Seungcheol seemed to choke on air all of a sudden, coughing loudly.

"What?!”

"I said your friends are hot.”

Seungcheol said nothing in response, just staring at her with furrowed eyebrows and a pouty lower lip.

"Go take this to table two” he said shortly, shoving a tray of drinks into Halla’s stomach and stomping away.

 _Such a child_ , Halla thought, laughing to herself. She took the tray and served it to its designated table, then went to another table of four men that just entered.

"Hello, welcome to Hilltop café! Can I take your order?”

One of the men sized Halla up and down.

"Ahh, so it’s true what they say about the staff here being attractive,” he said while licking his lips.

"Can I take your order?” Halla repeated, with a less friendly tone this time. She was beginning to become impatient.

"Shouldn’t you be saying thank you after being complimented?” one of the other men smirked at her. Halla stared down at her notepad. She did not like the way they were talking to her and eyeing her, but she didn’t want to create a scene on her first day of work.

"Oops!” the first man dropped his menu on the floor. “How careless of me. Could you pick that up for me?”

Halla squatted down and picked up the menu, throwing it back on the table with a twinge of annoyance on her face.

A few people around the café began to stop their conversations and shift their focus to the commotion the new customers were making. Seungcheol put the drink he was making down and made his way to the front of the counter, pulling his sleeves up.

"Oh, come on, darlin’. Couldn’t you have picked that up a little prettier? Arch that back of yours for us,” the man said, grabbing Halla’s wrist and pulling her towards him.

"That’s it,” Seungcheol muttered, about to lunge at the man, when all of a sudden, his target was on the floor.

In the blink of an eye, Halla had kicked the foot of the chair the man was sitting in and pulled down the top rail with her free hand, sending the chair and the man in it straight back, hitting the ground with a loud _thud_.

The room became silent, excluding a few sharp gasps, and now everyone’s eyes were on Halla.

She grabbed a menu and flung it on the floor next to the man’s head, who was groaning in pain.

"Oh, sorry. I dropped it. While you’re down there, could you pick that up for me?” she said with a deadpan face.

She was about to walk away, when the other men at the table stood up and charged towards her. Mr. Choi suddenly appeared in front of Halla, with a phone in his hand.

"I don’t think you want to do that, fellas,” he warned, waving the phone in front of their faces. “The police is on their way to arrest you for public disruption and sexual harassment. You have five seconds to get out.”

All four of the men scrambled towards the exit in an instant. After they had left, everyone went back to their conversations, almost as though the incident had never happened.

"I’m sorry…” Halla mumbled, her head down.

"For what?” Mr. Choi chuckled, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"I didn’t want to make a big scene or hurt any customers, I just started to get really angry with the way they were—”

"It’s fine, Halla. Those douchebags deserved it, you did the right thing.”

"Did you really call the police?” Suhyun asked, walking towards Mr. Choi.

"Nah, I showed those dumbasses a dial screen, but those kind of cowards would be scared of anything. I was going to call if it started to get really bad, though.”

"Are you okay?” Seungcheol asked, rushing towards Halla, gently lifting her wrist closer to his face and examining it.

“I’m fine,” she replied, pulling her hand ba.

After a few minutes of Seungcheol’s insistence on checking if Halla was really uninjured, he made his way back to his friends, who was just gaping in silence for the most part.

"That was so cool,” Chan marveled.

" _She’s_ cool,” added Mingyu. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“I know,” Seungcheol smiled, gazing at Halla from across the room. Just when he thought she couldn’t get any more intriguing, she did.

 

→

 

The day was nearing the end, and the café was empty besides Halla and Seungcheol cleaning it up. Suhyun went home earlier in the day when the influx of customers died down, and Mr. Choi was out buying more ingredients to restock.

Halla had not expected Seungcheol to stay the whole day, but he really stayed busy throughout the entire time he was there, serving all the customers with a smile. She concluded that he was really desperate to get that drink again.

"Here,” she said, putting the drink she had just made on the counter Seungcheol was wiping down. She started to make a beverage for herself, once again experimenting with all the flavors.

He looked up from what he was doing and grinned. Not one of those greasy grins he usually flashed her, but a genuinely appreciative grin.

"Thanks,” he picked up the drink and faced towards the window, “Is it a tradition to serve these when it’s sunset?”

"Nope, pure coincidence.”

"Can we make it a tradition?”

"You want me to make you drinks as a tradition?”

"No, I want us to be together every sunset as tradition.”

Halla froze. For the second time today, she was left speechless, not knowing how to respond. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and she decided to ignore him and finish making her own drink.

"Whenever there’s a day that I’m here, and there are no customers around, we could go out to the patio like this,” Seungcheol smiled, picking up Halla's and his beverages and heading straight towards the back door, “And watch the sunset together.”

"Hey!” Halla shouted, following him out the door, “Give that back!”

By the time Halla was outside, Seungcheol was already sitting down on the edge of the wooden porch. He handed Halla her drink when she took a seat beside him.

"Isn’t it nice?” he asked, sipping on his straw and gazing out towards the city.

 _Yeah, it was_ , Halla admitted, letting the warm breeze kiss her face and taking in the beautiful view in front of her. She exhaled deeply, letting her mind drift away.

Seungcheol glanced at Halla.

"You need to do this more, you know,” he said gently.

"Do what?”

"Relax, let yourself breathe. I’ve only known you for two days, but it’s obvious how much you stress yourself out. These past few days you’ve constantly been in motion, and that’s cool and all, but sometimes you need to just… slow down.”

Halla closed her eyes for a few moments, taking a few deep breaths.

"Let’s do it.”

"What?”

"Let’s do this… as a tradition, or whatever you said. It’s not bad.”

As much Halla hated to admit it, Seungcheol was right. She did need to take a few more moments to herself to unwind once in awhile, and to be honest, this was the most at peace she felt in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, if you were wondering, that was a reference to seventeen project.


	3. little by little

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How many colors can a chameleon show? Halla was sure Seungcheol could show more.

The end of April was approaching.  The days were getting warmer and longer, and the buds began to blossom.

It had been a few weeks since Hilltop opened.  Halla and Suhyun had been working almost every day, buzzing around busily and greeting faces that soon became familiar to them as regulars.  

Seungcheol dropped in once in awhile, helping out as much as he could, but it seemed that he was a pretty busy person.  Halla still couldn’t find out what he was so occupied with, and grew more curious everyday.  

Seungcheol’s friends also visited the café once in awhile, coming in only when he was working.  Halla met two of their other roommates: Jun, a soft spoken guy who Halla was a bit scared to talk to at first but turned out to be a total sweetheart, and Seokmin, a spontaneous ball of energy with a peculiar sense of humor.   

Halla had gotten to known the boys pretty well, spending her breaks with them whenever she could and joking around with them endlessly.  She had grown especially close to Jisoo, Soonyoung, and Mingyu, who all shared her love of watching foreign action movies.  

Working at Hilltop was fun for Halla since she enjoyed people watching and her coworkers were generally pleasant people to work with.  Because of this, though, she tended to exert herself more than she probably should and often came home exhausted from serving so many customers after classes.  She was overworking herself, and Seungcheol was starting to take notice.

"What's with her?” Seungcheol asked, coming into Hilltop one day.  Halla was sitting at the counter with her head buried in her arms, sleeping.

"She stayed up until four in the morning studying for midterms again,” Suhyun answered.  She was in the process of making some coffee for Halla to get some caffeine in her system.  “It's a good thing we don't have that many customers today, because she's been like a walking zombie ever since her shift started.”

With miraculous timing, a group of customers walked in.  Halla’s head shot up at the sound of the bells on the door jingling, startling Seungcheol.

"Oh shit, what the—” he mumbled, amazed at how quickly she woke up.

"Hi, welcome to Hilltop!” she greeted the new customers.  As she was about to get up, Seungcheol put his hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?” he spoke with a slightly rigid tone.

"Uh… my job?”

**"** No, you should rest.  I got it,” he took her notepad and pen and walked towards the new customers.  

→

For the rest of the day Seungcheol worked twice as hard as usual in an attempt to lessen Halla’s workload.  Still, with his extra effort, the café filled up and Halla had to be up and working for the majority of her shift.  

Whenever he noticed her carrying a tray of empty dishes or approaching a new table, he would take the tray from her or beat her to the table to take the table's order.  

Halla took short naps in between each rush of customers, sitting at an empty table and resting her head there.  However, when it became really busy, she would wake up and get to serving.  Each time Seungcheol saw her get up from a nap, a bit of frustration welled up in his chest.  He could just _see_ how exhausted she was, as if she were about to collapse.     

Finally, night fell, and the last few customers left.

"Bye, guys!” Suhyun waved goodbye to Halla and Seungcheol as she left the café.  Halla and Seungcheol waved back, and started on clean up.

Halla took the mop out of the cleaning supplies closet, but as soon as she dunked it in water, Seungcheol took it from her hands.

"I can mop.  Just finish stacking the chairs and chill.”  

Halla stood there for a few moments, too tired to argue, and then nodded.  

"Do you have anymore midterms this week?” Seungcheol asked while wiping the floors.

"No, today was my last one.”

"Are you working tomorrow?”

"Yeah.”

"What time does your shift end?”

"Probably around six since it’s a Friday.”

"Don’t plan anything after then.”

"Why?”

"Just don't.”

→

Clean up was finally done, and Halla shut off all the lights just as she was about to leave.  Seungcheol opened the door for them, and as soon as they stepped outside, the cool air rushed to embrace them.   

"Wow, it’s kinda chilly,” Seungcheol remarked, looking at Halla.  She gave a weak nod and starting walking forward with her eyes almost closed.  

The two of them made their way down the hill in silence.  Seungcheol kept glancing at Halla, feeling really bad, almost guilty, about the condition she was in.  He knew that she was constantly stressed out juggling school and work, but he had never seen her this languid.    

"Oh, you take this bus home, too?” Seungcheol asked as they approached a bus stop at the foot of the hill.  He only got a nod in response once again.

The bus pulled up, and the doors opened.  Halla trudged her way up the stairs onto the vehicle and Seungcheol followed suit.  He trailed behind her as she walked towards the back of the bus and took a seat next to her in the aisle.  

**“** What stop do you get off?”

"Cheosang.”

"Oh, me too,” he lied.  Seungcheol’s stop was three stops before Halla’s, but he was afraid that she would fall asleep and miss hers.  

He was right.  Within a minute of sitting down, Halla knocked out.  Her head fell on Seungcheol’s shoulder, and her hair cascaded messily over her face.  He chuckled at the sight; when she was awake she was so brusque and almost domineering, but asleep, she looked like such a baby.  He peered closer to her face and gently moved her hair behind her ears.

Seungcheol felt a sense of calamity watching Halla doze off, knowing that she was finally getting the rest she deserved.  He couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was, with such fair skin and delicate features.

Suddenly, he felt his cheeks flush, and he turned his head forward, looking ahead.  His body stiffened.  What was the feeling that he felt surge inside his chest?  Embarrassment?  No, not quite.  There was nothing wrong with thinking that someone was pretty, right?  But that wasn’t it.  He thought she was _more_ than just pretty.   

He put his finger on it.  Smitten.  He was smitten.  

→

"Cheosang!” the bus driver called out.  

Seungcheol glimpsed at Halla, who was still asleep.  He lightly shrugged the shoulder she was leaning on to wake her.  She gradually opened her eyes and lifted her head from Seungcheol’s shoulder, then looked at Seungcheol with a confused expression.

"We’re at our stop.”

They got up and made their way towards the exit of the bus.  Seungcheol had to help Halla down the steps since she was still half-asleep.  When they got off the bus, Halla only stood there, closing and reopening her eyes slowly.  

"Which direction are you heading in?”

Halla pointed past the convenience store to their left, where in about a few blocks, tall apartment buildings clustered together near a small park.  Seungcheol sighed, moved to be directly in front of Halla, and squatted down slightly.

"Get on.”

Halla stared at him blankly, then shook her head.  

"Come on, you’re too tired to even say no.”  

She hesitantly climbed onto his back.  Seungcheol grabbed the back of her knees while she loosely wrapped her arms around his neck.  He hopped slightly to readjust her position on his back.        

"You okay back there?”

"Mhm,” she mumbled softly.  He began to make his way towards the apartment complexes.  

After about fifteen minutes of carrying Halla on his back, Seungcheol finally arrived at door of Halla’s apartment.  Seungcheol bent his knees to let Halla down, and turned around to face her.  

"Thanks,” Halla said softly.  

"No problem.  It wasn’t that far of a walk and you’re pretty light.”

**“** Not just for the piggyback ride, but for helping me out at work today.”

Seungcheol let out a noise that sounded like a mixture of coughing and laughing.  

"I wasn’t doing it to help you.  I’m just a really good employee.  My uncle should really start paying me,” Seungcheol chuckled a little too loudly.  Even he didn’t believe himself.  

"Anyways, thank you.  For all of it.  Even if it wasn’t intended towards me, I appreciate it,” Halla muttered, looking at the floor.  

 

The two awkwardly stood there for a good minute.  

"I should be going in now,” Halla said quickly, and opened her door.  Just as she was about to go in, she turned around.  “Goodnight.”

"Goodnight.  Get some rest!”  Seungcheol managed to squeeze in before Halla shut the door.  

Seungcheol headed back towards the bus station, thinking about how he would need to catch another bus to go back in the opposite direction. He started to wonder why he did the things he did.

→

_Did that really happen?  Was Seungcheol possessed last night or something?_  Halla felt herself thinking about the previous day again.

Yesterday, Halla was way too fatigued to be able to process the events of her day as they occurred, but after a good night’s sleep, she was able to recall everything that had happened.  She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind since her day started, but now that she was on her break, she thought she would try to clear her head.  

Although it was hazy, she was able to mentally play back her memories.  She began to go through the events of the day in her head.

_I remember taking my midterm early in the morning, then taking the bus to work… I worked for a little while and then knocked out, and Seungcheol appeared out of nowhere and helped me out… he finished clean-up almost all by himself, which was kind of nice of him... and then we walked to the bus station together, and—_

"AHH,” Halla shrieked suddenly, remembering what she had done on the bus.  Suhyun and a few of the customers turned their head and shot her a concerned glare.  

"Sorry,” she whispered.  After her humiliation died down, she immersed herself in thought once again.

_Did I really fall asleep on him?  Ahh, that’s so embarrassing._  She thought about her tendency to drool, and slammed her head face down on the counter.  The more she went through her memories of that day, the more disconcerted she began to feel.  

_I can’t believe I made him carry me all the way home.  Why did I let myself get that tired?_

__

Halla was in disbelief at her own actions, but what she was _more_ perplexed by was Seungcheol.  

He continued to surprise her by showing her the different sides of him.  He seemed so childish and immature at times, but yesterday, Halla saw a true gentleman in him.  And it confused the shit out of her.

_Can’t he just stick to being a clueless idiot?_  That would make life easier for her.

"Hey Seungcheol!”

Halla stood up immediately at the sound of Seungcheol’s name, startled.  

"Hey Suhyun!  How’s my favorite cousin?” Seungcheol walked towards Suhyun and ruffled her hair.  

"What are you doing here?”

"I’m here to pick someone up,” his voice trailed off as he scanned the room.  His eyes lit up the moment they spotted Halla.

"Are you off yet?”

"Not yet, my shift ends in like half an hour.”  

Mr. Choi walked into the room just then, carrying a heavy box.

 

"Suhyun, I found the— Seungcheol!” he dropped the box onto the nearest table, then sped over to Seungcheol.  Right away, Mr. Choi put Seungcheol in a tight headlock.

"You punk, why haven’t you been coming to visit and help out lately?” he said through gritted teeth.  Seungcheol pried his head out of his uncle’s arms, coughing.  

"I was here yesterday!” he cried, gasping for air.

Mr. Choi blinked at him.

"You were?”

 

  
"Yeah, where were _you_?”

 

"Oh.. that was… well, yesterday I had to go to friend’s baby shower.  Sorry about that.”  

"You know what you can do to make up for it?”

"What?”

 

"Let Halla off work early.  I need to borrow her”

Mr. Choi glanced at Halla, then at Seungcheol, then back at Halla with a suspicious expression.  Halla just shrugged, not really knowing what was going on either.

"Sure, why not?”  

"Thank you uncle!” Seungcheol shouted all under one breath, running to Halla, grabbing her wrist, and dashing out the door.

"Wait, where are we going?!” Halla yelled as she was dragged out of the café .

→

"Okay, we’re almost there,” Seungcheol said, guiding Halla with his hands over her eyes.  

"Why are you covering my face?”

"It’s a surprise!  I’m taking you to my favorite place ever… just a few more steps… aaaand we’re here!”

Seungcheol lifted his hands away from Halla’s face, revealing their destination.  

"An arcade?  That is not a surprise at all,” Halla chuckled.

Before her was an open building filled with flashing games and machines.  The place was crowded with kids and teenagers, carrying around heaps of tickets and stuffed animals bigger than their bodies.  Halla was filled with nostalgia just looking at all the claw machines and games she used to play as a child.  

"When I was a middle school student, I spent all of my time here,” Seungcheol explained, weaving his way through the arcade with Halla following close behind him.  “This is the place where I could just let go and have fun, and I always come back here when I’m stressed out.”

  
Seungcheol stopped in front of a Pump game, his eyes widening with excitement as he saw the arrows appear on the screen.  

"Do you want to play this one?” Halla laughed, amused at how overjoyed Seungcheol seemed to be.  

"I don’t know if you’re ready for this,” Seungcheol flashed her an arrogant smirk.  

"I think I can handle a few rounds of stepping on arrows with you,” Halla rolled her eyes.  She stepped on the pad and inserted a few quarters into the machine.  She scrolled through the songs, and picked “Gangnam Style.”

"Which level should I put it on?”

Seungcheol mounted the pad next to her, and selected the most difficult level.  

"Alright,” Halla muttered, starting to feel a bit competitive.  She had never played anything other than the medium level, but she didn’t want to let Seungcheol one-up her.  She selected the same difficulty level as he did.

_How hard could this be?_

The music started playing, and all of a sudden the arrows were shooting up on the screen like crazy.  

_Oh shit._

Halla tried her best to keep up with the music and the cues, incredibly fixated on matching her steps with the arrows, but no matter how quickly she stepped, red “fail”s popped up on the screen.  Her legs started to feel heavier and heavier, and she became out of breath, panting greatly.  After about thirty seconds of extreme effort, she gave up.

_This is impossible, there’s no way anyone could—_

She turned to see Seungcheol, whose legs were flying all over the pad so quickly that they became a blur.  He was leaning back on the ramp with one hand and his eyes were fixated on the screen with acute focus.  Large “perfect”s popped up on screen every millisecond.  

Halla’s jaw dropped to the floor.  

Soon enough, a small crowd began to form around Seungcheol, also in awe at his incredible footwork.  A few people even whipped out their phones to start recording.  Halla just continued to watch in amazement, completely forgetting that she was supposed to be playing a game of her own.  

The song finally finished, and the screen turned into a scoreboard.  Just as expected, Halla received an F.  Seungcheol’s score kept rising and rising, with all the “perfect” combos adding up.  

"A!” he exclaimed, looking at Halla and sticking his tongue out.  The small audience applauded.  

"Okay, okay.  I admit that you completely destroyed me.  How are you so good at this?”

"Lots of practice.  My classmates used to call me the pump gangster.”

"You know, you were kinda cool up until you said that.”

→

"How have you managed to beat me in every game?” Halla complained.  The two of them made their way around the whole arcade, and Seungcheol had crushed her in every machine in the building.  Halla’s competitive edge unexpectedly failed her in everything, and she was beginning to get frustrated.

"I told you, I practically lived here,” Seungcheol chuckled.  

Halla scanned the arcade again in a desperate attempt to find a game that she might have missed.  She just wanted to win _once_ , and then her self-pride would be saved.  

"Ooh, let’s play that one!” she yelled, running towards one of the claw machines that was hidden in the back.  

Seungcheol grinned, adoring her perseverance on something so trivial.  

"Which one do you want?  I’ll win it for you,” Halla stated resolutely, gripping the joystick and glaring at the contraption.  

"How about that one?” Seungcheol pointed to a crying emoji pillow in the corner.

"What?  That one is so ugly though.”

"But it’s easy to get.”

"Don’t underestimate me,” Halla grumbled.  “I’ll get you that one.”  

She tapped a white alpaca plushie wearing a red bow around its neck.  It was buried in the middle of the pile of prizes, with its head just barely sticking out.  

Halla inserted a quarter into the machine, and started maneuvering the claw around.  Her cheeks were puffed in immense concentration and her body was bent forward in an absurd position, which she believed gave her the greatest angle of scrutiny.  She stopped the claw right on top of her target, and dropped it.  

"Come on come on come on!” she pleaded, clasping her hands together and shutting her eyes tightly.  

The claw picked up the alpaca and started sauntering towards the pit.  It let go of the prize straight into the opening.  

"YESSS!” Halla screamed.  She stuck her hand through the little door to grab the salvation of her dignity.  

"Here you go!” she thrust the plushie into Seungcheol’s chest.  He took it, holding it closely.  

"Are you sure you don’t want to keep it?  You worked hard for it,” he grinned at her proud expression.  

"Nah,” Halla shook her head, “I chose this one specifically because it looked like you.”  

Seungcheol held the alpaca up to his face, mimicking its visage.  Halla burst into laughter, nodding.  

"It’s like a mirrored image!”

Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile thinking about how cute Halla’s laughter was.

"Are you satisfied with your victory?  Do you want to go eat now?” he asked, already turning towards the exit so that he could hide his stupidly wide grin.  

"Yeah, let’s go,” she followed him out the arcade.  

They walked down the streets of Myeongdong, eyeing all the delicious street food the vendors had to offer.  The two of them bought a few snacks for them to share, continuing to stroll down the road and checking out the small street shops.  

"I can’t believe you think this is spicy,” Halla snickered at a sweaty and panting Seungcheol slowly chewing a piece of ddeokbokki.  She wouldn’t be surprised if smoke started streaming out of his nostrils.

"I can’t believe you think it’s not!” he wailed.  He fanned himself with his hand, “this ddeokbokki is almost as fire as my pump skills.”

"Shut up,” Halla laughed, while the image of Seungcheol’s feet darting across the dance pad replayed in her mind.  She had to admit that seeing him play was an unforgettable experience to say the least.  

A few moments of silence passed between the two, who were busy doting on the festive nightlife.  

"Thanksagainiguess,” Halla murmured.

  
"What did you say?”

"I said… thanks again…  I really needed this.”

  
Expressing any form of praise was always difficult for Halla.  She was afraid that if she acknowledged her appreciation for somebody, it would open up the possibility of disappointment.  Seungcheol was able to pick up on a little of that, and knew how much it meant for her to thank him **.**

"I should be the one thanking you for hanging out with me and letting me see your beautiful face.  And getting me this” Seungcheol grabbed the alpaca plushie that was tucked under his arm and waved it in front of her.  

"Aish!  Don’t you think your cheesiness is a bit much?”

"But I mean it,” Seungcheol looked into her eyes with sincerity.

_Fuck._

"How can someone be so straightforward?” Halla sputtered in bewilderment.  She wondered if he was put on this Earth solely to befuddle her.  

Seungcheol chuckled lightly, then broke eye contact with her, fixing his gaze at the stars.     

"Well… I learned the hard way that you should say what you want to people before it’s too late.”  

 

 


	4. crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halla unlocks some backstories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello! this is kinda a spoiler but i'm including it just because i want to make sure this is a safe space for everyone reading. 
> 
> tw: anxiety / panic attack, flashback, mention of death

Halla watched Mr. Choi with great anticipation as he lifted the glass with the layered drink to his lips.  

 

“Can you stop that.” Mr. Choi put the drink down on the counter and glared at her.

 

“Stop what?”

 

“Stop staring at me with your big eyes, it’s kinda creepy.”

 

“Sorry.  I’m just anxious to see how you’ll like it.”

 

After a lot of urging from Seungcheol, Halla finally got Mr. Choi to sit down and try some of her original concoctions before the café opened that morning.  There were a few drinks that he had liked so far, and some not so much, but the last drink to be evaluated was the one she always made for Seungcheol.  Seungcheol was there, too, with his elbows on the counter and face cupped in his hands, excitingly watching the taste test that was occurring before him.      

 

“If this makes the menu, we should name it after me.  ‘The Seungcheol’.  It has a nice ring it.” Seungcheol beamed.

 

“That’s dumb.” Mr. Choi and Halla spoke in unison.

 

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

 

“I was thinking of naming it ‘S’, or ‘The S’, something like that.  It stands for sunset.”  

 

 _And Seungcheol_ Halla thought to herself, but didn’t want to admit it out loud.  She had to give him  _some_ credit for giving her inspiration when she created it.  

 

Seungcheol also seemed to be the drink’s number one supporter.  Everytime he came to work at Hilltop, Halla made him “The S” as promised and he downed the whole thing in one gulp, begging for seconds.  

 

“Here goes,” Mr. Choi finally picked up the drink once again.  He took a few sips of it and made an ambiguous expression.  

 

“Well?” Halla asked with apprehension.  

 

“It’s pretty good, but….”

 

“Just good?!” Seungcheol almost yelled.  “It’s like you’re tasting the sunset!”

 

“Seungcheol.  Calm down.” Mr. Choi pulled Seungcheol’s ear and he grimaced, letting out whimpers of discomfort.   “Let me finish.”  

 

Halla giggled at the little slapstick routine Mr. Choi and Seungcheol were putting on.  She never got tired of watching the two bicker.

 

“What I was going to say— before I was rudely interrupted—was that the drink itself is good, but the most we could sell it for is around four bucks.  We’d barely be breaking even with all the ingredients needed to make this, so maybe it’s better if we didn’t put it on the menu.”

 

Halla nodded in understandment.  

 

“The cherry pomegranate drink was pretty good, so I think I’ll add that,” Mr. Choi noted.  He got up and went back to cleaning the bathroom.  

 

“Sorry Cheol.  I tried,” Halla grinned at Seungcheol, whose bottom lip was protruding in a pout.  

 

“You’ll still make it specially for me right?”  
  


“Sure, whatever floats your moat.”

 

“Did you just say whatever floats your… moat?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“It’s boat.”

 

“What?”

 

“The expression is whatever floats your boat, not moat.”

 

Seungcheol and Halla stared at each other.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“How the hell do you float a moat?  Isn’t a moat like a ditch?”

 

“I thought like… because you fill the moat with water, it’s like… like you’re getting the moat to... fuck I don’t know,” Halla turned away, her face heating up with embarrassment.  All she could hear was Seungcheol’s obnoxious laughter behind her.

 

Just then, Mingyu, Soonyoung, Jun, Jeonghan, and Seokmin entered the café.  

 

“Guys, guess what Halla just said!” Seungcheol spurted out in between bouts of laughter.

 

“Don’t you—” Halla ran behind Seungcheol and covered his mouth with her hand.  Seungcheol wriggled around in her hold.  Suddenly, Halla felt something warm and wet on the palm of her hand, and let go.

 

“Seungcheol!  Did you just lick my hand?!” she screamed.

 

“She said,” Seungcheol started, erupting in laughter again, “she said ‘whatever floats your moat!’”

 

The boys stood there silently for a few seconds, letting what they had just heard register in their minds.

 

“Whatever floats your moat?  Like, instead of boat?” Seokmin raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well that’s embarrassing,” Soonyoung snickered.  Jun nodded in agreement.  

 

“And I barely know how to speak Korean,” Jun added.  The boys laughed at his comment, and continued to tease Halla.    

 

“You guys can shove that ‘friends’ discount up your ass,” Halla muttered.

 

“I think it’s cute,” Mingyu chimed in.

 

Everyone glared at Mingyu, except for Halla, who tipped her chin at him approvingly.  

 

“Guess who’s getting a free drink today?”

 

→

 

Today was a relatively quiet day for Hilltop with it being the day before a holiday.  Besides a few customers in the morning getting coffee to start off their day, Seungcheol’s friends were the only visitors of the café.  Everyone was enjoying the serene stillness of the afternoon.  

 

Mr. Choi was washing the dishes and Halla occasionally glanced over at him.  She contemplated asking him a question that had been on her mind for quite a while.  

 

“What do you want, kid?” Mr. Choi noticed Halla’s constant glimpses at him.  

 

“Oh, well uh… I have a question for you,” she stuttered.  Usually, Halla had any easy time conversing with her boss, but she had a bit of difficulty mustering up the courage to ask him this specific question.  

 

“What’s your question?”

 

“Well, you’re the CEO of Choi Tech right?”

 

“I  _was_ the CEO of Choi Tech.  I retired two years ago.”

 

“Oh.” Halla had wondered why he had so much free time to be working at Hilltop café, but never considered the possibility that he had stepped down from such a desired position.

 

“Why did you retire?” she inquired.  

 

“Well, I was already filthy rich before I quit,  so I thought why not?” Mr. Choi laughed a little to himself but noticed that Halla was not laughing along.  He cleared his throat.

 

“Building and growing the company was a great accomplishment and I don’t regret it at all, but financial success doesn’t exactly equate to happiness, you know?  Don’t get me wrong, establishing a stable living first is important; it’s not like you can do whatever you damn want.  But I already achieved that a few years into creating Choi Tech, and I got bored of it.  I was just itching to do something else.  That’s why two years ago I sold the company and took myself on a world tour.”  

 

“Is that where you got all these pictures from?” Halla motioned around the room to all the photos framed around the café.  

 

“Yup, all from one trip.  Pretty cool, huh?”

 

Halla nodded.  

 

“It was nice being free and away from work.  I experienced different cultures and saw so many amazing sights.  I also picked up photography, as you can see, and that was cool.  And that’s when I realized that the reason I felt so free was because before, I was chained to this big responsibility that was being a CEO.  I mean, I had to wear a suit all the time and attend meetings all day long when I was really just a big geek who made software.  The whole CEO thing wasn’t me, but I stayed with it for so long because I was pretty good at it and I felt like I had to.  That’s why, when I came back to Seoul, I told myself that I would only live for myself.  That’s why I started building this place.  It’s no multi-million technology company, but it’s got more personality for sure.”

 

Mr. Choi smiled, looking around Hilltop.  He seemed to be very proud of himself, and Halla respected that.

 

“Did I answer your question?” Mr. Choi looked at Halla.

 

Halla’s original question was why Mr. Choi decided to open a small café despite owning such a big company, but his in-depth life lessons answered so much more than she could have ever thought.     

 

“Yeah, it did.  Thanks for telling me your story.”

 

“No problem.  I like talking about my journey.  I think it’s important for you stressed out youngsters to know that you’ll be okay in the future as long as you do what your heart tells you and never stop pursuing your own happiness.  I know my nephew is definitely taking that to heart.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You know how he’s—”

 

“Hey Halla, look at this!” Seokmin yelled from across the room.  Halla turned her focus on the boys, who managed to stack six spoons on top of Jun’s forehead.  

 

“Oh cool!” Mr. Choi exclaimed, running to join them and make that seven spoons.  Halla sighed at her reminder of how much childish testosterone she was surrounded by.  

 

 _At least I have Suhyun._    

 

She glanced over to the commotion to see that Suhyun had just joined their antics, trying to get chopsticks to balance on Jun’s face.  Shrugging, Halla decided to gravitate to where everyone else was gathered.

 

Just as Halla arrived to see the spectacle that all the boys had been clammering over, it fell.  Utensils toppled all over the floor and table while everyone wailed in defeat.  

 

“We were so close to beating the record!” Mingyu cried.  

 

“Nothing can beat the time we stacked eight books on Chan’s body while he was sleeping, though,” Soonyoung chuckled to himself.

 

“Yeah, but Wonwoo was pissed off when he found out what we were doing with his prized possessions,” Jeonghan commented.  

 

 _Wonwoo?  Was he another one of their roommates?_ Halla began to imagine what kind of huge space all the boys must live in.

 

“How many people do you guys live with?” Halla questioned.  

  
“Thirteen,” Seungcheol replied.

 

Halla’s eyes widened.  

 

_Thirteen people?!  And I thought my house was cramped._

 

The boys laughed at Halla’s gaping expression.

 

“We get that a lot.”

 

Halla started mentally counting all of Seungcheol’s roommates that she had met so far.

 

 _There’s Chan, Jisoo, Soonyoung, Seokmin, Jeonghan, Jun, and Mingyu._ That meant she hadn’t met five of their other roommates.  Halla wondered how crazy they must be altogether, seeing that there were only six of them present right now and they were causing such a ruckus.   

 

“How do you guys live?” she asked, still in disbelief.  

 

“It’s not that bad since we get along really well.  It just sucks when we all go out for Mexican food because we only have one bathroom,” Soonyoung cringed just at the thought.  

 

“Although, yesterday, there was a cockroach in our dorm, and we turned the whole place upside down just trying to kill the stupid thing,” Mingyu added.      

 

The boys continued to tell all their stories about the struggle with living with twelve other people.  Halla began to think how entertaining it would be to watch a reality show with all of them together in their home.

 

→

 

“Hey, Halla, Seungcheol, come over here!” Mr. Choi’s called out from the pantry.  

 

Halla and Seungcheol, who were sitting with the boys and Suhyun in the midst of exchanging their grossest bug-catching stories, got up and obediently followed the sound of Mr. Choi’s voice.  They stood in the entrance of the pantry, where Mr. Choi had just stacked a bunch of boxes.

 

“I restocked.  I know you guys don’t have many customers today, so I’m putting you two to work.  Organize the pantry.” he demanded.

 

Halla got to work right away, but Seungcheol stomped his foot and crossed his arms.

 

“But Uncle!  My arms are sore from practice yesterday,” he whined.   

 

“Stop throwing a tantrum like that, it’s not cute,” Mr. Choi said as he walked away.

 

“You should at least pay me then,” Seungcheol muttered.  

 

The two began to go through the boxes and organize them by food type.  

 

“Halla, you should treat me to a meal someday,” Seungcheol lightly nudged her in the shoulder.  

 

“Why would I do that?”

 

“Because I always help you with work.”

 

“I don’t ask you to do that.”  Halla turned towards Seungcheol and flicked him in the forehead.

 

“Ah!” he winced, then gave her a death stare.  She laughed in response.  

 

“What would you want?” she asked, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.

 

“Seriously?” he blurt out excitedly.  He paused and looked up, lightly tapping his temple with his index finger. “Hmmm…”

 

“Lobster!” he smiled widely.  Halla shook her head.

 

“Something cheaper.”

 

“Kamjatang?”

 

“That works.”

 

Seungcheol busily got back to work, savoring the idea of free kamjatang in his belly.  He picked up a box and observed that it was a little wet on the sides, which made it slightly slippery.  He peered into the box, noticing that a jar of preserved peaches was leaking.  Seungcheol picked up the jar, sealed it tightly, and put it back in the box, then began to lift the box again to place it on one of the higher shelves.  

 

“Seungcheol?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“With so many guys living together, do you ever stay up in each other’s rooms and crash—”

 

All of a sudden, the box Seungcheol was lifting slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor.  The impact of the fall caused some of the jars inside it to break with an ear-shattering noise, and glass shards scattered all over the ground.  

 

“Seungcheol!  Are you okay?” Halla turned around towards the loud clatter, and saw Seungcheol crouching near the floor, his knees buried into his chest.  

 

“You’re bleeding a little,” Halla uttered, getting closer to Seungcheol and inspecting a cut that the glass had caused on his forearm.  She lightly tapped his arm, but he didn’t respond.

 

“Cheol?” she crouched to be closer to him and peered closer to his face, which was covered by his arms.  She noticed that he was trembling, and his fingers were tugging at his hair.  

 

“Cheol, it’s okay, it was just an accident,” she said softly, lightly pulling on his hands so that she could see his face, but his arms were stiff and he wasn’t answering.  

 

Seungcheol began trembling more and more, and he rocked slightly back and forth.  He was also mumbling something that she couldn’t comprehend.  Halla began to panic a little, not knowing what was happening.    

 

 _What should I do?!  Should I go get help?_ Halla asked herself.  She decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to leave him.   

 

“Mom...  Mom, wake up...” Seungcheol began muttering repeatedly.  His breath became more rapid and sharp with every word.  

 

“Cheol, breathe,” Halla instructed calmly, plucking his hands away from his face and holding his face with her hands.  His eyes seemed to look right past her, his pupils wide and expressing distress.

 

“Mom! MOM!” he yelled.

 

“You’re at Hilltop, Cheol.  You’re with me.” Halla stroked the side of his face, trying to somehow bring him back, but he continued to shake and call for his mother.  

 

“Everything is okay.  You’re okay, Cheol” she told him a few times, her voice become increasingly louder with desperation.   

 

 _Stay calm, stay calm._  Halla told herself, trying her best to collect herself for Seungcheol’s sake despite her heart pounding with nervousness.  

 

She continued speaking to him softly, stroking him and lightly shaking his shoulders every few seconds.  

 

After about a minute, the trembling and mumbling subsided, and Seungcheol looked up into Halla’s eyes.  

 

“What did I—” his voice trailed off, looking around at his surroundings, then once again at Halla.

 

“Are you okay?” Halla asked, pulling her hands away from Seungcheol’s face and gazing at him with concern.  She let out a sigh of relief, seeing that he had come back to his senses.

 

Seungcheol quickly got up and ran out of the room.

 

“Cheol!” Halla yelled, trying to follow him.  He darted out the back door and slammed it.  Halla went after him but was stopped by Jeonghan who had grabbed her arm as she passed their table.

 

“What happened?”

 

“I don’t know, I think he had some sort of breakdown or something like that, I have to go aft—”

 

“No, don’t follow him.”

 

Jeonghan’s gaze fell.  The other boys exchanged uneasy glances, but no one said a word.   

 

“W-what?” Halla stuttered.  She didn’t understand how she could leave him out there by himself after what had just happened.  

 

“He’s fine now, right?  You should give him some space.  I think he wants to be alone.”

 

“Do you guys know what just happened?  Is this a regular thing?  What’s going on?” Halla asked, her head spinning with questions that were just being met with silence.

 

“I’m sorry, Halla, but we’re not really in a position to talk about it.  But Seungcheol’s okay, so don’t worry too much about it.  He’ll talk to you when he’s ready,” Jeonghan spoke slowly and delicately, which seemed to have a soothing effect on Halla.  She nodded, and began walking towards the kitchen in a daze.    

 

She started cleaning, thinking that busying herself was the best way to calm down her anxiousness for now, but she couldn't stop glancing out the window at Seungcheol, who was sitting alone and out towards the edge of the hill.

 

→

 

An hour had passed.  An hour of disquiet and tension.  

 

The boys left about ten minutes ago, claiming that they all had something to do.  Mr. Choi left early that day due to lack of customers, and Suhyun’s shift ended early as well.  The only person inside the café was Halla, who was finishing up cleaning the place and about ready to lock up.  

 

She looked out the window for the hundredth time that day to see Seungcheol, who hadn’t moved once since he first sat on the porch.  It was starting to get late, with the sun now setting, and she was growing tired of waiting for him to come to her.    

 

Halla took a deep breath, picked up “the S” she had just made, and made her way towards the back door.  She opened it quietly and sat down besides Seungcheol, who had yet to acknowledge her presence.

 

“I hope you didn’t forget about our tradition,” she placed the drink between them.  

 

Seungcheol picked up the drink, still looking out towards the view.  

 

“Thanks.”  He took a sip and put it on the other side of him.      

 

The two sat quietly for a few minutes.  Halla wanted to say something to break the silence, but didn’t know what.  

 

“Look, about what happened earlier—”

 

“Can we not talk about it?” Seungcheol interrupted her, still refusing to look at her.  

 

Halla furrowed her eyebrows.  She didn’t want to push, but she also didn’t want to leave it alone.  

 

“No.” she stated resolutely.  “I want to know what happened, Seungcheol.  Just in case it ever happens again when I’m around you... I want to be able to help you next time.”

 

Seungcheol finally turned his head to look at Halla.  He saw the concern in her eyes, and immediately felt remorseful for making her worry so much.  He sighed deeply, and began to speak.  

 

“When I was ten years old,” he started, breaking eye contact again, “I was riding in the car with my mom.  She was driving.”  

 

Towards the end of that sentence, his voice began to crack a little.  He took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes, and continued.

 

“We crashed.”  

 

Halla’s eyes shot open wide, and she covered her mouth, suppressing a gasp.  

 

“I don’t remember how it happened or whose fault it was.  I just remember being thrown around, being in a lot of pain, and then seeing my mom... who wasn’t moving.”

 

Seungcheol’s voice grew more and more quiet and distant.  Halla could see his eyes begin to dampen.  She reached out to console him, but drew her hand back.  

 

“I lost her that day.”

 

A few tears fell, followed by more moments of silence.  

 

“After the accident, I had a hard time sleeping.  I kept having nightmares about it, and eventually, I started getting flashbacks.  I relived that day so many times, each time being as vivid and painful.  I went to a doctor about it and… I was diagnosed with PTSD.  My dad started taking me to a therapist to help me, and after a few sessions, the flashbacks and nightmares got better.  They were less vivid and occurred less frequently.  They were also shorter.  I stopped going to a therapist after about two years because I had gotten over most of my trauma.  But sometimes I still get flashbacks, as you saw today.  They’re pretty rare, but they can get triggered by certain sounds or sights.”

 

“Seungcheol, I’m so sorry… I had no idea,” Halla’s voice trembled.  

 

Seungcheol turned to face her, and she instinctively looked away.    

 

“Are you crying?” Seungcheol gave a weak smile, trying to move Halla’s hair away from her face.   

 

“No,” she swatted away his hand.  She was lying.  

 

Seeing tears fall from Seungcheol’s usually mischievous and bright doe eyes struck a chord in Halla.  Whenever she saw him, he was always in such high spirits, usually teasing her or feeding her cheesy pick up lines.  She never expected such a _seemingly_ happy person to have gone through so much.  That’s when she realized how much of it was a facade, just as his forged smile was right now.  He had so much grief buried inside him, all because he thought his suffering was a burden to other people.  

 

“It’s okay.  Like you said, you didn’t know.  That’s why I don’t really like explaining, it’s sorta embarrassing—”

 

“Stop,” Halla cut him off.  “It’s not embarrassing.  

 

Seungcheol blinked at Halla, who was glaring at him.

 

“You don’t have to do that, you know.  You didn’t have to run away after it happened, or sulk out here all by yourself.  You don’t have to be embarrassed.”  

 

Halla put her hand over Seungcheol’s hand, which was placed down on the wooden porch.  

 

“I don’t know what kind of person you think I am, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to scare me off.  I’m not going anywhere.”

 

She gripped his hand tightly.  

 

“So, you can unload all your emotional baggage onto me.  I’m tough, I can take it.  I might cry a little, yeah, because I’m human...  but so are you.  So don’t bear everything alone.”  

 

Seungcheol stared at Halla, not knowing what to say.  He had never heard anyone talk to him like that.  He didn’t know it before, but that was exactly what he needed.  

 

He smiled; a genuinely happy smile this time.  

 

The two of them indulged in some silence as they watched the sun set over the city.  Only now, it wasn’t silence filled with tension or apprehension.  It was a soothing silence.  The kind that healed you as it filled you.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a few disclaimers: 
> 
> yes, the comment about jun not being able to speak korean well may be a bit confusing?? i know this is written in english since that's the language i'm fluent in, but the story is set to take place in s. korea so the characters are assumed to be speaking in korean. 
> 
> another disclaimer; like I said in the beginning of the story, this fic is supposed to include elements true to seventeen irl as well as fictional elements. the whole thing about seungcheol's mother is purely fictional, I do not know really much about his true family because I don't know him as a person, so his backstory pertains only to seungcheol as a character of this story.
> 
> AAAND here are my author notes: 
> 
> this chapter took a bit of more of a serious turn? compared to earlier chapters of course, which were 100% fluff. I hope you guys don't mind :-) although this story is meant to be a bit more light-hearted, life isn't perfect (obviously) and I want to at least TRY to portray a reflection of reality through my writing, so the hard time are inevitable. I hope you all still enjoy reading!


	5. i don't believe you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halla and Seungcheol go on a melon adventure.

“Sooo… basically neither of us knows how to drive?” Seungcheol leaned against his uncle’s old pickup truck, jingling the keys in his hand.  

 

“Well…” Halla started, nervously biting the bottom of her lip.  She wasn’t sure if she was going to regret saying what she was thinking.

 

_Why is my boss so crazy?_

 

Mr. Choi had just given Seungcheol and Halla the keys to his truck, asking them to go buy melons from the market.  Not just  _any_  melons, but rare, expensive melons that could only be found in Incheon— which was almost an hour drive away.  Instead of going on the long drive himself, Mr. Choi decided that it would be better for him to “hold down the fort” while he sent his employees on a wild hunt.  For melons.

 

“Well what?” Seungcheol asked, waiting for a response from Halla who was still contemplating her dilemma.

 

“Well… I got my license in California right before coming to Seoul, but I don’t have a Korean license.  So I  _could_  drive if I wanted to, as long as we don’t get caught.  Would your uncle be okay with that?  I mean, it is his car.”  Halla knew the answer to her question already, but still held onto a sliver of hope that she’d find an excuse to get out of this mess.

 

“You know him, he’s chill.  He’d be okay with anything.”

 

Halla cursed herself for even asking.

 

“Are you comfortable with driving that far, though?” Seungcheol peered closer to Halla, who was still nervously gnawing at her lip.

 

“It’s a little scary, to be honest.  I haven’t driven since I came here.  If you help navigate me, though, I think I can do it.”

 

“Are you sure?”             

 

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.”

 

Seungcheol just stood there for a good minute, looking at Halla with a doubtful expression.

 

“Are you sure you’re sure?”

 

“Seungcheol!” Halla barked, and Seungcheol jumped.  “Are you afraid to get into a car with me behind the wheel?”

 

“N-no… I mean, I’m just a bit worried, you know, for  _your_ sake, since you said you’ve been out of practice.  But  _I’m_ okay.  Just maybe, we shouldn't go if you're unsure?”

 

Halla glared at him, then walked over to the driver’s side to open the door.  She took this as a challenge.    

 

“Get in, we’re going,” she said as she entered the car and slammed the door shut.

 

Seungcheol climbed into the passenger's seat obediently, clasping his hands together on top of his lap.  

 

“If I die, I’m suing you.”

 

“How are you going to sue me if you’re dead, idiot?”

 

Halla started the car and began backing out of the driveway.  She accidentally kept pressing against the breaks, making the car jerk violently every other second.  Finally, she was able to get the car out of the driveway and onto the street. 

 

_Well, that's a great start._

  

For the first few minutes of driving, Halla’s eyes were focused on the road.  She was immensely concentrated on making sure that she drove properly and that she was familiar with all the controls.  After some time, her uneasiness subsided as she became more comfortable.  

 

Her thoughts began to drift to things other than just driving.  She suddenly recalled how Seungcheol had told her about his mom a few weeks back.  

 

 _Shit.  Was I being insensitive for making him get in the car with me?_  Halla worried.  Her guilt began accumulating, and she nervously tapped the side of the steering wheel with her index finger.  

 

“I’m an asshole,” she accidentally let out under her breath.

 

“What?” Seungcheol, who was looking out the window, turned his head to look at her.

 

“I— what?  No I, uh… nothing” Halla stumbled on her words.  “I was just thinking... if you’re really uncomfortable with going on this trip I can turn around and drop you off.  I’ll just use my phone’s GPS to get there.”

 

Seungcheol grinned, and let out a little laugh.

 

“I was joking, Halla, relax.  Well, half-joking.  I’m only scared because it’s you.”

 

“What does that mean?”  

 

“You’re nervous, that’s all.  When the driver is nervous, the passenger is nervous.”

 

“Don’t worry, I feel a lot better now that I’m behind the wheel.  Driving is like riding a bicycle: you never forget how.”

 

“I don’t think that’s true,” Seungcheol laughed.  He did seem a lot more relaxed since he first entered the car, which Halla thought was a good sign.  

 

“So, you don’t have anxiety when you’re in a car?” Halla asked hesitantly, afraid to bring the subject up.      

 

“Nah.  I was a bit hesitant to get into a car after the accident, but I got over it pretty quickly.”

 

“That’s good.”

 

A moment of awkward silence passed.

 

“Can I turn on some music?” Seungcheol asked.

 

“Yeah, go ahead.”

 

Seungcheol turned the radio on, and the sound of upbeat music filled the car.

 

“I love this song!” Seungcheol exclaimed, “ _Signeul bonae signal bonae_.”

 

He sang along with the music with a wide smile, even dancing along.  Halla couldn't help but laugh watching him in the corner of her eye as he excitedly performed every bit of the choreography perfectly.  

 

“I didn't think you would be into this type of music,” Halla smirked.

 

“This isn't the kind of music I would download and listen to on my phone, but everyone enjoys a good bop now and then.”

 

“Then what is?”

 

“I listen to a lot of indie acoustic music, like Standing Egg.  I also really like hip hop; I’ve been trying to listen to more American rap.  Are there any good American rappers you know?”

 

“What, because I'm from LA?” Halla huffed.  

 

“Well kinda, yeah.  Is that offensive?” Seungcheol asked falteringly. 

 

“Nah, I'm just teasing.  Not everyone in California listens to rap, though.  Fortunately for you, I do.  I like Russ and Run The Jewels, you should check them out sometime.”

 

“Any specific songs you’d recommend?.”

 

“I can send you my playlist when we get back.”

 

“Really?  That’d be so cool!”  Seungcheol beamed.  “You know what they say?” he spoke with a mischievous tone in his voice.

 

Halla didn't want to answer, but he continued anyways.

 

“Music is the window to the soul.  I think you just let me into your soul, Halla.”  Seungcheol clicked his tongue and pointed finger guns at her, making an obnoxious facial expression.  

 

“Do you want me to flying kick you out of this car?  Because I will flying kick you out of this car right now.”

 

→

 

Halla and Seungcheol arrived at the market, which was overflowing with customers scrambling around and vendors yelling at every passersby, ensuring that they have the best deals.  Bright flags and hawkers painted the place with color, and narrow walkways were cramped with customers pushing their way past each other.  

 

“It’s crowded today,” Seungcheol muttered as he fanned his face with his hands.  The sheer amount of body temperature for the copious amount of people filled the market with dense, hot air.    

 

Halla stood on the tips of her toes, trying to sight a vendor that sold fruits, particularly melons, but the whole area was so congested and expansive that she couldn’t see anything.  Seungcheol noticed the same thing as well.

 

“Do you think it would be faster to split up?  I can look through this area and you can look through that one,” he pointed at two different sections of the market.  

 

“Sure,” Halla responded a bit dubiously.  She wasn’t sure about separating at such a chaotic place, but she also wanted to minimize the amount of time she had to spend in the sweltering heat.  

 

The two parted ways, making their way deeper into the mass of pandemonium.  

 

Halla constantly bumped into other people, or rather, they were bumping into her.  The old ladies especially tended to aggressively shove others out of the way, sometimes even hitting Halla with their bags of produce so that she would clear their paths.    

 

“I can’t believe I’m going through all this just for some fruit,” she mumbled to herself.

 

Her eyes were constantly scanning the banners on the hawker stands, and she had to keep stretching her necks to see what certain stalls were selling.  A few times she stopped at a vendor who sold melons, but after further speculation, she realized they weren’t the “special” melons Mr. Choi wanted.  

 

After half an hour of tireless pushing and looking at different vendors, Halla neared the end of her section.  She turned out unsuccessful, with nothing to show except for some sweat stains on her shirt.  

 

Halla decided it would be a good time to call Seungcheol, who may have had better luck than her.  She reached for her phone in her pocket, but felt nothing.  

 

W _here is it?_ she thought, with dread beginning to creep into her mind.  

 

She checked her pocket again.  Nothing.  

 

She frantically felt around her other pockets, hoping that her hands would come across the stupid piece of metal that would bring back her peace of mind.  Still, nothing.  

 

 _Aw, fuck.  I left it in the car_ she mentally smacked herself on the forehead.  She thought about going back to retrieve it, but remembered she gave the keys to Seungcheol to hold onto.   

 

_Everything will be okay, you just have to look for Seungcheol, right?_

 

Halla tried to stay positive, but she knew that finding one person in this entire market would be like finding a needle in a haystack.  

 

Regardless, she rushed into Seungcheol’s assigned section in the market and quickly made her way through the crowd, searching every face that came in sight.

 

“Seungcheol!  Seungcheol!” she called out every few minutes, racing through the tight passageways between the columns of vendors.  

 

With every minute, Halla grew more and more distraught.  She felt exhausted rushing through the huge mob of people, and her throat started to burn from the constant yelling and the incredible heat.  Still, she pushed forward, afraid of the thought that she wouldn’t be able to find Seungcheol.

 

 _Why did I agree to split up?  And why did I have to leave my phone behind?!_  she scolded herself as she continued searching for Seungcheol.  

 

Eventually, she burned out and gave in to her fatigue.  She stopped near the edge of the market to catch her breath.  Her hands were on her knees and she stoof in a hunched stance, panting.  

 

“You look like you just ran a marathon.”

 

Halla turned around in an instant at the sound of the familiar voice.  She stood in front of a grinning Seungcheol, who was sipping a soda with a silly straw that formed two loops around his eyes to make it seem like he was wearing glasses.

 

“Seungcheol!” she cried, still breathing heavily in an attempt to catch her breath.  “You idiot, I was looking all over for you!  Where were you?!”

 

“I was looking for the melons.  I just finished searching my part of the market.”

 

“Did you find it?”

 

“No, but I picked up some cool things around the place.  Like this!” he said, referring to the straw, as he sucked into it and cola streamed through the transparent tubing and into his mouth.  

 

Halla let out an exasperated sigh.  She couldn’t believe she was searching so desperately for such a nitwit.    

 

“I couldn’t find it either.  So what do we do?” Halla asked.  She hated the idea of driving so far and going through so much stress to come back empty-handed.  

 

“We could look in that area.  We haven’t been there, have we?” Seungcheol pointed towards a small cluster of fruit stands at the end of the market.  Halla shook her head, and they starting walking towards the space.  

 

“Hey,” Seungcheol spoke quietly and glanced at Halla as they were walking.  “Did you seriously look through the whole market for me?”

 

“Yeah,” Halla answered, annoyed.  “I spent twenty-five minutes running around to find your stupid ass.”

 

Seungcheol let out a slight snort.  

 

“What was that?” Halla grumbled.

 

“Nothing.  It’s just cute to know that you worried about me.”

 

Halla’s cheeks flushed red.

 

“I only worried for you because you’re incompetent.  And I can’t lose my boss’s nephew,” Halla retorted, looking straight ahead and refusing to look at the smug expression she was sure he had on.  

 

“Why didn’t you call me?”

 

“I left my phone in the car…” Halla muttered reluctantly.  

 

“Who’s the incompetent one again?” Seungcheol teased.  “Come on.  You’re smart and all, but I think we both know that I would survive the longest on the streets.  I mean, I got all these sick deals by haggling.”

 

Seungcheol lifted his arms to show off all the bags that hung from his arm.  Halla was sure that those bags were mostly filled with toys and useless trinkets.  She peered into them, shocked to see some fresh produce and other foods among the toys she knew would be in there.    

 

“What’s all this for?” she asked, tugging at the opening of one of the bags to look inside again.  

 

“Some snacks for the kids and ingredients for their meals.”

 

“Kids?”

 

“Oh, my roommates.  I call them my kids sometimes because I’m the oldest.”

 

Halla slightly smiled at the thought.   _How cute._   

 

She couldn’t help but imagine Seungcheol grocery shopping and cooking for twelve hungry mouths wearing a “kiss the chef” apron on.  She chuckled a little to herself.  

 

“By the way, I bought this for you,” Seungcheol pulled out a small bottle of melon milk and a straw, handing it to Halla.  

 

Halla took the bottle, a bit surprised.  

 

“For me?”

 

“Yeah.  I thought you might be thirsty.  And I always see you drinking these things when you come into work— which I don’t get, because the banana flavor is better.”  

 

Halla unwrapped the straw from the paper casement, and punched it through the top of the milk.  

 

“Everyone drinks banana milk, it’s overrated,” she rolled her eyes, but smiled.  This was exactly what she needed right now.  She took a sip and savored the sweet taste and the refreshing sensation of cold liquid traveling down her parched throat.

 

“Oh!” Seungcheol stopped in front of a stall.  “Is this it?”

 

He picked up one of the melons at the stall, holding it in front of Halla’s face.  She shrugged.

 

“Excuse me,” she tried getting the merchant’s attention.  “Are these Yubari King Melons?”

 

The merchant nodded.  

 

“They’re usually sixty dollars, but I’ll give you one for fifty five.”

 

 _Jesus.  That much for melons?_ Halla thought Mr. Choi was crazy, but reached into her wallet to hand over the money anyways.  She was just glad the hunt for these devilish fruits was over.

 

“We’ll give you a hundred for two,” Seungcheol spoke firmly, just as Halla was about to give the merchant the bills.  

 

“Sorry, these are special melons.  I can’t give it to you for that low,” the merchant responded.  

 

“Alright, have a nice day,” Seungcheol said as he grabbed Halla’s wrist and turned to leave.

 

“What are you doing?” she growled, trying to release her hand from his grip, but he continued to drag her away from the vendor.  She wasn’t about to give up something that she spent one hour driving and another hour running around a hot market for.

 

“Just trust me,” he whispered in her ear.  

 

“Fine!” they heard the merchant’s voice shout from behind them.  “Two for a hundred it is.”  

 

Seungcheol turned around with a confident grin plastered on his face.  He let of of Halla’s wrist and marched back to the vendor.

 

“Pleasure doing business with you,” he chimed proudly as he the transaction.  He picked up the melons and made his way back to the car with Halla, who, more than she was willing to admit, thought that Seungcheol’s bargaining skills were quite impressive.  

 

→

 

“Turn left here,” Seungcheol instructed Halla.  Halla turned, but she was a bit doubtful about listening to his directions.  Seungcheol had been navigating Halla for the past fifteen minutes, but she saw no familiar roads or sights that indicated that they were on their way back to Seoul.  

 

“Seungcheol,” Halla quickly glanced at Seungcheol who was looking at the map on his phone.

 

“Hm?” he looked up from his phone.

 

“Are you sure we’re going the right way back to Seoul?  I don’t remember going down this street.”

 

“Oh, we’re not going back to Seoul.  Not yet, at least.”

 

“What?”  
  


“While we’re here, we can’t  _not_  go to the beach.  We’re almost there!”  

 

Just as the words left Seungcheol’s mouth, Halla took a turn around the base of a hill, and the blue, twinkling sea appeared before their eyes.  Halla’s chest filled with excitement just looking at the ocean; she wasn’t aware that there was a beach near Incheon, and she hadn’t seen one since she arrived in Korea.        

 

She drove along the road parallel to the beach and into a parking lot.  She and Seungcheol left the car and made their way towards the beach.

 

The moment Halla felt the soft sand between her toes, she squealed with enthusiasm and sprinted straight towards the water.

 

“Hey, wait up!” Seungcheol called, following behind her.  

 

Halla arrived right at the edge of the water and stopped, taking all her surroundings in.  The cerulean water was calm and the waves softly brushed the sand.  Seagulls soared around the bright sky and deep green mountains stood at the far end of the stretch.  The sun glistened over the ocean, shedding light over the water and making it glisten.  

 

It was a pretty quiet day, with only a few people on the entirety of the beach strolling around.  Halla enjoyed the serenity of the atmosphere.

 

“So, I think I made a pretty good decision today?” Seungcheol appeared besides Halla.

 

“I mean, it wasn’t the  _worst_  idea,” Halla grinned.

 

She decided to test the water, taking off her shoes.   

 

 _Let’s just dip our toes in,_  she thought hovering her foot above the water.      

 

Seungcheol quickly pushed her forward, and Halla stumbled ankle-deep into the ocean.

 

“Seungcheol!” she screamed, scrambling to get out of the icy water and smacking him on the arm.  “It’s cold!”

 

“What, can’t take it?” he laughed.

 

“Can you?” Halla kicked the water up towards Seungcheol, which splashed all over his body.  He cried out in shock of how frigid the water was, and looked down at his shirt to see it drenched.    

 

“Hey!” he shouted, about to splash her back, but by the time he looked up, he saw her running out of his reach.

 

“You’re gonna get it!” he yelled, running after her.  

 

Seungcheol chased after Halla along the shore, gaining on her within every second.  Halla constantly glanced behind her, and saw that with every glance, Seungcheol seemed to appear closer to her.  

 

“AHH!” she shrieked as Seungcheol finally caught up to her, clasping his arms around her from the back and picking her up.  

 

“Let me go!” she kicked her legs around as they left the ground.  Seungcheol sauntered towards the water.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Halla pleaded at a last attempt to get Seungcheol to release her.

 

“I don’t forgive easily,” Seungcheol grinned.  He plopped her into the ocean.  

 

Halla let out an ear-piercing scream as half her body was immersed into the freezing water.  

 

“Oh my god, Cheol!  I can’t believe you did that!” Halla yelled as she splashed Seungcheol.  

 

“Thought you needed to cool off a little!” Seungcheol laughed as he tried shielding his face from all the water Halla was sending his way.

 

After a while, Halla stopped splashing and stood there, swaying her arms back and forth in the water.  She noticed that it wasn’t as cold now that she had gotten used to the temperature for the water.  

 

Seungcheol stood there bracing himself until he realized that Halla had stopped dousing him with water.  He looked up at her, who was calmly wading.

 

“You know,” she spoke calmly, “It’s kind of nice.”

 

“It is?”

 

“Yeah,” she replied as she grabbed his wrist with both of her hands.  “You should join me!” she screamed as she swiftly pulled him deeper into the ocean and dragged him downwards, plunging him under the water.

 

Halla let go immediately after Seungcheol was fully submerged into the water, and he popped back up with a loud gasp.  

 

“Okay, I deserved that,” he coughed as he pushed his wet hair back away from his face.

 

“Yeah, you did,” she laughed.

 

→

 

Halla and Seungcheol sat near the water, their outstretched toes just barely reaching the soft waves.  

 

The two were quite tired from playing at the beach, chasing each other, splashing each other with the cold water, and searching for seashells together.  Now they were just unwinding and relaxing.    

 

It was great, being able to run around and release all of their stress.  Although half the day was spent frantically searching for fifty-dollar melons in a cramped and hot market, the other half was spent simply at ease.  

 

“Ahh… this reminds me of home,” Halla sighed.

 

She closed her eyes to let the cool mist of the ocean kiss her skin.  Halla was filled with a sense of nostalgia just smelling the salt in the air and hearing the waves crash among the shore.  

 

“Do you miss home?” Seungcheol turned his focus from the ocean to Halla.

 

“A little bit.  I miss the beaches and the sun being out all the time, even in the winter.  I also miss American chocolate,” Halla chuckled to herself, suddenly craving a Twix bar.

 

“What about the people?”

 

 _What about the people?_   

 

Halla just stared ahead, not really knowing how to respond.  

 

“Any friends, family back in your hometown that you miss?” Seungcheol probed.

 

“This might sound weird, but I didn’t have many friends before I moved here.  I was always busy with school or stuck at home.  I also don’t exactly scream ‘friendly’, so everyone mostly left me alone.”

 

Halla looked at Seungcheol, who had an expression written with the very thing she was afraid of: pity.  

 

She didn’t need him to pity her.  To be honest, she was doing just fine alone.  She had gotten used to entertaining herself and she didn’t really understand the appeal of constantly being around others.  That was before she met Seungcheol, the other boys, and Suhyun, of course.                

 

On the other hand, Seungcheol was in a complete state of confusion.  He didn’t understand why people wouldn’t approach her, for she had intrigued him the moment he met her.  

 

Sure, she was brash, cold, and  _annoyingly_  overly-competitive, but she was also the type of person who could never refuse doing something she was asked of.  She had a good sense of humor, and was admirably ardent.  She was Halla, and Seungcheol couldn’t imagine a world where no one truly knew who that was.

 

“As for family…” Halla spoke quietly, “Well, that’s complicated.  That calls for another time.”

 

Halla got up and brushed the sand off of her clothes.

 

“Come on, we should get going.  If we don’t, it’ll get dark by the time we get back.”

 

“Alright,” Seungcheol said as he stood up and stretched.  “Let’s stop for ice cream on the way back.”

 

“Why do you always insist on getting ice cream whenever we run errands?  You’re such a child.”  

 

"I'm always craving ice cream, I can't help it!"

 

"I don't feel like making another stop, all this driving is making me tired." 

 

“I’ll treat.”

 

“Deal.”        

 

    

    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were wondering, I did a lot of research about melons before writing this chapter.


End file.
